Going Bananas for the Banana: Facts, Songs & Recipes

Bananas are thought to have originated 4,000 years ago in Malaysia, and to have spread to the Philippines and India. The first record we have on them goes back to 327 B.C., when Alexander the Great found them growing when he conquered India. When his soldiers returned to Greece and Persia, they brought with them bulbs from the banana tree, which they planted.

In 63 B.C., Antonius Musa, physician of Octavius Augustus, is said to have cured his patient by using cold compresses made from the banana plant. Antonius Musa cured Caesar from his deathbed and he became a famous physician overnight. The banana plant group (genus) was named Musa after him.

In the year 1836, Jean Francois Poujot found and recorded this hybrid mutation growing in his banana tree plantation in Jamaica. He noted its sweet flavor and a yellow color, unlike the green and red varieties he was used to. Most of all, this hybrid was so sweet that it didn't require cooking. Jean Francois Poujot began cultivating this variety and the sweet banana was born.

Bananas were introduced in the United States at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, held to to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Bananas contain three natural sugars: sucrose, fructose, and glucose. They give an immediate boost of energy and are a good source of potassium and fiber. Today the banana is America's best selling fruit.

The commonly called banana "tree" is not a tree at all but is the world's largest herb. This herb can grow up to 30 feet tall.

The trunk of the plant is actually made from naturally woven, closely packed leaves. The plant grows rapidly and can reach its full height in about nine months time.

A flowering stem grows out of the leaves of the banana tree and a large reddish bud appears with double rows of flowers which are individually called fingers. These double rows have anywhere from 10 to 20 fingers. The fruit "fingers" grow in clumps which are in turn called hands. The stem will grow about 9 - 12 hands which circle the stalk, meaning that a single banana plant can yield up to 240 bananas!

Photograph © Steve F-E-Cameron
GNU Free Documentation License for Wikipedia
Banana plant showing flower and continuous production of
bananas. Photograph taken on Banana Island, Luxor, Egypt

Bananas come in Various Colors and Sizes.

The Karat Banana, a yellow orange variety, is commonly found in Micronesia and is one of the most carotenoid-rich bananas in the world.

Illustration of Karat Bananas
Ludwig Pfleger 1771.
Manuscript in the Badische Landesbibliothek
Karlsruhe, Germany

The Cavendish banana is the popular yellow banana we know in the U.S. and Canada. These are sweet bananas which are delicious peeled and eaten raw or cooked. Cavendish bananas should be purchased green and allowed to ripen at home at room temperature. They are at their peek when the peel is completely yellow and a few dark specks begin to appear. When they are over-ripe, the skin turns black and the inside becomes mushy.

Image from Clipart.com

The Plantain is a variety of banana found in tropical regions around the world. They are generally called "plantain" or "plantain banana" and are used for cooking, unlike the common yellow Cavendish banana that is usually considered more of a "dessert banana" because of its sweetness.

Plantains tend to be firmer and lower in sugar content than the yellow Cavendish, and are often stir fried or steamed. Plantains range from green to yellow. The green ones tend to be firmer and less sweet, making them perfect for cooking. They are ripe when the skin turns black. In many tropical parts of the world, plantains are a staple.

Image from Clipart.com

Red bananas are a variety of bananas with a reddish and sometimes purple skin. They are smaller than the common Cavendish banana found in the United States and in Canada. When ripe, the red banana has a flesh that is cream to light pink in color, and their texture is sweeter than that of the Cavendish banana. Red Bananas are found in Central America and Jamaica, and are also called Jamaican bananas.

Photograph © 2005 David Monniaux
GNU Free Documentation License for Wikipedia
Photograph taken at the Jardin des Parfums et des Epices
Saint-Philippe, Réunion Island.

The Bananita is a sweet banana found in Northern Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Colombia and in Hawaii. It resembles a short fat Cavendish banana, and is 3 to 4 inches long. These delicious, stubby bananas are also called apple bananas, manzana bananas, ladyfinger (or "lady finger) bananas and baby bananas. Sweeter than the common desert banana, the taste has been described as a cross between an apple and a sweet Cavendish banana.

The Blue Java Banana has a bluish color while developing, thus the name. It is also known as the Ice Cream Banana. It has a vanilla taste and goes great with ice cream!

The banana variety known as Pisang Seribu, which you see in the picture on the left, means "Thousand Fingers" in Malaysian. This banana plant can grow to heights 10 -12 feet tall, while the fruit stems that hold the bananas are often 6 feet tall!. It fruits so many bananas that people lose count after 500, which is why the Malaysians call it "Thousand Fingers." The fruits are small and sweet, and are highly prized as excellent desert bananas.

There are many more banana varieties, but this is a start. For those of you who are interested, you can find wonderful and rare banana images on Bananas.org., along with an active forum.


Flickr Photograph © by choyaw99
Some Rights Reserved

"Banana is the common name for a type of fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa which produce this commonly eaten fruit. They are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia. Bananas are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics."

"Banana plants are of the family Musaceae. They are cultivated primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for the production of fibre and as ornamental plants.


The Banana is Sexless


This sexy looking fruit has long been considered a phallic symbol but if truth be known, the popular banana is an asexual clone resulting from the act of vegetative reproduction.

"A single, sterile, male banana flower, also known as the banana heart is normally produced by each stem. The female flowers are produced further up the stem and produce the actual fruit without requiring fertilization. In cultivated varieties, the seeds have degenerated nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit. The ovary is inferior to the flower; because of their stiff stems and the positioning of the ovary and flower, bananas grow sticking up, not hanging down."

"Although the wild species have fruits with numerous large, hard seeds, virtually all culinary bananas have seedless fruits." Although this is great news for consumers, there is growing concern among farmers and scientists that the resulting lack of genetic variation will lead to very little resistance to disease and natural enemies of the banana.

Finding a way of introducing genetic variation is paramount. It is so important that scientists have founded an international consortium to sequence the banana genome.

Just Take a Look Below at Some Unusual Banana Fans Caught on Video!

The commonly called banana "tree" is not a tree at all but is the world's largest herb. This herb can grow up to 20 - 40 feet tall.

The word 'banana' comes from the Arabic word banan, which means finger.

A cluster of bananas consists of 10-20 bananas and is known as a hand.

The banana is the only fruit that gets better when it is picked before it is ripe.

There are hundreds of varieties of bananas around the world but not all are edible. Some of the varieties found in markets include the Cavendish (most popular in the United States), the Burro, Blue Java, Dwarf, Manzano, and the Plantain.

Bananas come in different colors, including yellow, green, orange, red and furry pink.

There is a Museum dedicated to the banana in Washington State (USA) called the Washington Banana Museum.

United States immigrants were given bananas when they reached Ellis Island in New York. Many had never seen a banana before and didn't know they needed to peel them before eating. Many ate them whole.

In his new book, author Dan Koppel asserts that the banana - rather than the apple - was the true forbidden fruit that Eve took a bite out of in the Garden of Eden.

Banana Bread With Chocolate Chips

4 ripe bananas
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mash the bananas in a bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake in a buttered pan for 55 to 60 minutes.

Photograph © yoshimov
Some rights reserved

Brennan's Bananas Foster

¼ cup (½ stick) butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup banana liqueur
4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise,
then halved
¼ cup dark rum
4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Combine the butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a flambe pan or skillet. Place the pan over low heat either on an alcohol burner or on top of the stove, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the banana liqueur, then place the bananas in the pan. When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum. Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot, then tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum. When the flames subside, lift the bananas out of the pan and place four pieces over each portion of ice cream. Generously spoon warm sauce over the top of the ice cream and serve immediately.

Our thanks to Brennan's Restaurant, New Orleans
and Sara's Kitchen for this delicious recipe.

Photograph © Bob Jagendorf
"Making Bananas Foster at Brennans"
Commons:GNU Free Documentation License

Banana leaves are wonderful for cooking. These fresh cut green leaves add flavor to dishes cooked inside them and a number of Asian foods are cooked in this way.

They can be used for baking, steaming, or barbecuing foods, much like parchment paper, tin foil or cornhusks (corn husks). Banana leaves function as both a wrap and and they also give off a wonderful subtle sweetness to foods wrapped in them, plus they are fun and and they complement the presentation of the food.

They are fairly inexpensive to buy and can be purchased at most Asian supermarkets, either in the produce section or the freezer section.

The leaves are not eaten and can be composted when you're finished with them.

The fiber of the banana plant is used to make string or twine, and it can be woven into baskets and containers, place mats, carrying bags, and more. In Thailand during the sacred Festival of Lights - Loy Krathong - the Krathong* were originally made from a section of the banana trunk and decorated with intricately folded leaves, and a candle and coin were placed on it and floated on the river. When styrofoam became popular, the Thai people switched to using that, but since styrofoam is not biodegradable, there has been an active campaign to have people go back to using parts of the banana plant.

This plant is totally biodegradable and is important to soil regeneration. Because the banana plant absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide, it helps lower air pollution.

*the floating offerings

Judging from the following commercials, the banana must be the silliest and most fun fruit in existance. I hope you will take time to view a few of these videos. They are hilarious and a few of them are sure to evoke childhood memories. See for yourself!

CHIQUITA BANANA
CARMEN MIRANDA
COIN GUITAR PICK PILLBOX

Adult Classic Sequinned Carmen Miranda Hat

Chiquita Banana
Porcelain
Hinged Box

The Carmen Miranda Collection

Carmen Miranda
Bananas Is My Business

Week-End
in Havana

Bananaphone

Tiny Love Fruity Pals Anna Banana

Banana Tin
Monkey Benders

Grande Bananas
Art
Poster Print
by
Miles Graff,
17x13

(24x36) Andy Warhol
Banana Art
Print Poster

Vintage Liquore Dessert Drunk Monkey Poster Art Print24x36

Banana Size

Calories

Fat

Carbohydrate

Protein

Extra Small (less than 6 in. long 81g

72

0.27g

18.5g

0.88g

Small (6 in. to 6-7/8 in. long) 101g

90

0.33g

23.1g

1.1g

Medium (7 in. to 7-7/8 in. long) 118g

105

0.39g

27g

1.29g

Large (8 in. to 8-7/8 in. long) 136g

121

0.45g

31.1g

1.48g

Extra Large (9 in. or longer) 152g

135

0.5g

34.7g

1.66g

Shirley Ellis said that the song was based on a game she played as a child.

"Using the name Jack as an example, the song follows this pattern:

:Jack, Jack, bo-back,

:Banana-fana fo-fack

:Fee-fi-mo-mack

:Jack!

A verse can be created for any name, with X as the name and X?1 as the name without the first consonant sound (if it begins with a consonant), as follows:

:(X), (X), bo-b(X?1)

:Banana-fana fo-f(X?1)

:Fee-fi-mo-m(X?1)

:X!

If the name starts with a vowel or vowel sound, the "b" "f" or "m" is inserted in front of the name.

And if the name starts with a b, f, or m, that sound simply is not repeated. (For example: Billy becomes "Billy Billy bo-illy"; Fred becomes "banana fana fo-red"; Marsha becomes "fee fi mo-arsha".)

Note: Playing the game with names such as Alice, Dallas, Tucker, Chuck, Buck, Huck, Bart, Art, Mitch, Rich, Richie, or Maggie results in profanity or rude language."

Bananagrams

Bananagrams Set with Banana
Leaf Score Pad!

2 Sets BANANAGRAMS with '100 Best Anagrams'

Mario Cart Wii Power-up Charms
Banana Peel

Gamewright Go Bananas Card Game

Monkey with Banana Monkey
WATCHBUDDY® DELUXE

"The Dancing Banana is a popular emoticon. By late 2001, the banana was already being used on several forums as a standard emoticon. Most of these forums would replace the typed text "banana" with the graphical image. As the popularity of the banana grew, hundreds of variations of the image had been created for forums or other purposes. These new images typically would have to be either uploaded or linked to, instead of replacing text. The Dancing Banana soon made its way to television shows and began to appear as an icon in pop culture."

Information quoted from Wikipedia

If you are interested in dancing bananas for your own website, also known as banana smilies and banana emoticons, you can find a large number of them  HERE 

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